Episode78
Oros to the Rescue! We picked up the story with our Heroes floating in Space between the cloaked Squadron of Reaver Ships and Encillious, the giant Ultra-Reaver Space Station. With Jason unavailable due to the rigors of RL, Captain Joe was unfortunately reduced to arguing incoherently with alternate dimensional versions of himself that no one else could see or hear. Kiwi, Meanwhile, tried to Merge In/Organic through into the station, but it's inherent Reaveryness made this impossible, even when he used the new Transdimensional Light Form Nanites to assume his Avatar of Light Form, (that of a "Slightly Larger Squirrel"). Despondent at the prospect of having to battle through potentially thousands of Soul-Skin Hits before we could deploy our Prism of Cleansings, we briefly toyed with the idea of going straight to the Gaze of Righteousness to try and force Encillious' Shade out of its host body, but thanks to our expert Reaver-Lore (and some excellent Arbiteringing), we remembered that a Reaver of this size essentially functions much like a Space-Ship, i.e.: is broken down into 'Sections' that could be targeted individually, and that hopefully each had only a fraction of his overall number of Soul-Skin Hits assigned to it. With the proximity of the Reaver Assault Fleet at Honsrin and the possibility of destroying them all in one fell swoop if we could pull off our Plan, we bit the bullet and started laying into the Section of Encillious that lay before us. Things immediately went from Bad to Worse though, as Encillious released a super Aura of Darkness, (similar to those produced by the Spawners, but Space-Hex sized), and the Reaver Ships started attacking us with their Ship-Sized Weapons. Then Encillious let loose with a retarded "Knock-Back 10 Space Hexes" Concussive Area Attack that did 80 Points of Damage if it knocked you into anything. Kiwi and Oz were sent flying, and all of the Non-Reaver-Host people on the Space Station were Pasted all over the interior bulkheads. On the plus side, we got a first hand view of what it looks like when a Reaver absorbs thousands of Souls at once, (which also re-filled all of the Soul-Hits on the Section that we had been Attacking. Yay!). Pete had to use his Bursting Combat Spotlight to light up the Target Section so that Oz and Kiwi, (with all of their Sensors disabled to avoid triggering terrible Grievous Wound related repercussions), could find their way back. After one of the Reaver Ships Can-Openered Pete's Mech with its +80 to Strike Armor Piercing 110 attack he tried using his Deployable Cover Robot to make a 'Light-Fister Limpet' against Encillious' side, but the Uber-Reaver just responded by lashing out with Reaver-Blades that erupted out of the surface of the Station, forcing us clear. We had all activated our Avatar of Light Forms by this point, as we really needed the +50 to Strike & RF if we were going to have any chance of hitting, or of living for many more Segments! Pete had deployed his Soul Decoy Field, which seemed effective against the Reaver Ships, but Encillious appeared not to notice, entangling him in a Mystic Net! Pete was not suitably embittered however, as his Exo-Cleaning Nanites and Disenpronement Field had him back not on his feet, (or whatever it is when you are floating in space), in time to continue his Burst on the next Segment, and prompting him to mutter, "I got something for this!". Pete's special Anti-Soul Skin Rounds were also proving hugely effective by this point, relieving Encillious of between 6 and 8 Souls Skin Hits per Segment, but even with Oz & Kiwi contributing some hits as well, (in between getting Stunned), it was rapidly beginning to look like a lost cause. Just when things were looking increasingly Bleak however, we were surprised to be telepathically contacted by our Extra-Dimensional Friend / Intrepid Multi-Personalityed Space-Folding Spaceship, Oros. He berated us for leaving him behind, (again), and told us that he was coming through the Tree-Gate at Honsrin with an Alliance Back-Up Force! Using his special 'FTL Inside Gravity Wells' power, he was able to zoom directly to our location and began disgorging Alliance Reaver-Buster Fighters direct from Vielos through his new Aft-Stargate. While these were unfortunately not the advanced 'Strike Vengeance' models, (not due back from Huburtus Space until the next Block), the addition of numerous additional targets to the battlefield immediately relieved some of the pressure on our Heroes from the surrounding Reaver Ships. After some dithering, Pete launched a Brightness Flare to mark the Target Section and ordered the Fighters to press the attack against Encillious. All of the years of training for the VDF Fighter Squadrons apparently paid off, as they performed flawlessly, executing a series of elaborate tactical maneuvers that left the Reaver Ships dazed and confused! In addition, despite the fact that they probably needed Natural Twenties to Hit, their specially designed Anti-Reaver Paired Bursting Pulse Lasers laid down so much fire that enough hit to assist us in blowing off the Soul-Skin of the Target Section! Now all we need to do is live long enough to get past Encillious' Uber-Reaver Armor, hit him with a Cleansing Prism, Gaze of Wrath him, then hope he bails his Save... For the Record: Custom Tech-Master Action Pete used this Episode; *BPAI-H10 Homunculous *BPX-2 Miniature Exo-Dreadnought *BPAB-C20 Combined Exo-Ammo Belt *BPMN-LI28 Light Infusion Medical-Nanites *BPSL-B20 Combat Spotlight Upgrade *BPNDC-15A Deployable Cover *BPAI-DDC10 Drone Deployable Cover *BPFG-SD10 Soul Displacer Field Generator *BPN-SVCDN-24 Ship & Vehicle Cleaning Deconstruction Nanites *BPFG-DE10 DisEnpronment Field Generator *Tenacious Hound *SF32-BP1-Blackbird Space Fighter *VDF-SDSF SF24-Blackbird Space Fighter *BPAP-CM22 Cluster Munition Prototype Round *BPO-BFR20 Brightness Flare Rocket Back to Space Junk Log